


Rise

by MorrigansMuse



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Clones, HEA's don't come easy, Idon'tgivetoomanyspoilersintagsunlessIhaveto., Mentioned Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Sith, Slow Burn, Sometimes they come back wrong, everybody needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:54:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26368285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorrigansMuse/pseuds/MorrigansMuse
Summary: After Ben disappeared from the cathedral in Exegol, a heartbroken Rey picked herself up and fled back to the Resistance base to rejoin her friends and to try to figure out her place in a post-war galaxy while trying to mend the hole inside of her soul.  It isn't easy to put a puzzle together that has a missing piece. It would be easier though if her dreams weren't so dark. Every time she closes her eyes she finds herself back in the cavernous tomb-like structure, and upon waking, there is always this feeling that leaves her feeling disturbed...a tugging on the edge of her consciousness, something begging to follow her into the waking world.Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, Whispering figures emerged from the shadows into the soft, sickly colored, pulsing light to gather around the being who lies upon the wet, stone floor. They have been watching and waiting for this moment with expectancy.  There's a shaking breath...two...and the figures all sink to their knees as the being on the floor opens his eyes.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Rise

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've had this idea in my head for quite a while now and have decided to start fleshing it out. I haven't written anything more than a one-shot in over a decade so I'm not promising this to move quickly, but I'm hoping to get it all out. I'm totally all about HEA's, but I think they have to be hard-won, and I confess that I am a sucker for angst and drama, so tags and such may change as time goes on. However, this is just a short little prologue, with more rehash and memories for a stage setting so I think it's pretty safe.
> 
> Big thanks go out to [Etherealthere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealthere/pseuds/etherealthere) for encouraging me to start this and pre-reading my ideas. She's awesome, folks. For reals! I also want to throw out mad props for my beta, [Erulisse17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erulisse17/pseuds/Erulisse17) for a super quick turn-around on this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Ben disappeared from the cathedral in Exegol, a heartbroken Rey picked herself up and fled back to the Resistance base to rejoin her friends and to try to figure out her place in a post-war galaxy while trying to mend the hole inside of her soul. It isn't easy to put a puzzle together that has a missing piece. It would be easier though if her dreams weren't so dark. Every time she closes her eyes she finds herself back in the cavernous tomb-like structure and upon waking, there is always this feeling that leaves her feeling disturbed...a tugging on the edge of her consciousness, something begging to follow her into the waking world.
> 
> Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, Whispering figures emerge from the shadows into the soft, sickly colored, pulsing light to gather around the being who lies upon the wet, stone floor. They have been watching and waiting for this moment with expectancy. There's a shaking breath...two...and the figures all sink to their knees as the being on the floor opens his eyes.

Back, and forth, back, and forth…

Rey’s thumb rubbed rhythmically over the dark fabric she clutched in her hand as she sat quietly in the cockpit of the T-65 X-wing. The starfighter was steadily following the programmed course that would take her back to the Resistance base. The stars flew by in streaks of blue and white in a dazzling pattern, something that had never failed to mesmerize her before. But today was different. She stared blankly out of the viewport, oblivious to the lights around her as she let her thoughts wander.

********************

Palpatine had tossed Ben into the ravine as effortlessly as a child throws its doll and Rey had been helpless to stop it. Grief had swelled within her, malevolently dancing in tandem with the physical pain that still coursed through her bones. Rey couldn’t even summon the strength to stand and so had lain where she’d fallen, mentally reaching into the void, casting out her consciousness in a desperate effort to connect.

_Be with me… Be with me… Be with me…_

And then she had felt it. The tug on the end of the line, weakened but so familiar, a signal that let her know without a doubt he was still alive, and a lone tear slipped down her face as she lay there in silent relief.

But then, out of the silence, voices she had never heard before—along with a few that she had—began speaking into her mind. The voices of the Jedi who had come and gone before her. She had never reached them before, no matter how hard she had tried. But here, in this dark place, in this desperate time, with each voice she’d felt herself grow stronger as they imbued her with their essence, filling her to the brim with their strength and knowledge, giving her the power that she needed to stand and face down the enemy as they told her to _RISE!_

********************

When she touched down on Ajan Kloss, Rey was unprepared for the surge of emotions she could sense in the Force. Everywhere she looked people were crying, laughing, and dancing in sheer joy.

Palpatine and his army had been defeated. The First Order’s numbers were severely crippled and for the first time in generations, there might finally be a chance for democracy to reclaim a place in the galaxy. But for the moment, everyone was simply ecstatic about the day’s victory, won so soon after they had begun to fear that all was lost, and the celebration was in full swing. Fires were lit, drinks were poured, lovers held each other, swaying as though dancing to the beat of their own hearts. The chaos was tragically beautiful, backlit by the blood-soaked color of the fading sky.

On the outside, Rey was happy too, and she joins in, smiling and embracing Poe and Finn who spotted her immediately and came running to throw their arms around her in enraptured glee the moment her feet touched the ground. But inside, the part that she, no, that _they_ had played in this outcome continues to play vividly inside of her head, over and over and she hurts.

She hurts so much.

A Dyad. She was one half of a Dyad. Up until a few days ago, she’d never even heard of such a thing. She knew that she and Kylo… _Ben_ … shared an inexplicable bond but, more often than not, it had felt so much like a noose around her neck. It served as a means for him to track and keep tabs on her, a way he could find her no matter where she went in the galaxy. She never realized, however, that he was literally her other half until he was gone, trading his life for hers and leaving her feeling hollow and empty, with far more questions than answers.

What does one half do without the other? Where does the other half go when it passes on? When Ben disappeared, she had assumed that he had become one with the Force. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t really know.

Did Ben know? He was the one who told her about the Dyad, after all. And when he brought her back, the way he looked at her— no one had ever looked at her that way before. A mix of relief, affection, pain, and just a hint of sadness, the wetness in his eyes sparkling even in the cathedral’s gloom. When she had kissed him, it felt like coming home, and pulling back, she had just enough time to see his smile; an almost shy, giddy grin complete with charmingly crooked teeth and squinted eyes before it slackened along with his body, suddenly so heavy in her hands as she tried and failed to keep him from falling onto the stone floor.

Rey does her best to pull herself from her thoughts and swallows down the lump in her throat, disguising the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes as ones of joy.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” she tells them, wiping her eyes and leaning back from her friends’ arms to gaze upon their faces. “I was so scared for you!”

“For us? We were scared for you!” Finn exclaimed. “There was a moment there when it felt like… Well, I mean, I couldn’t—"

“Ah, we had it under control,” Poe cut in, smugly, smirking with a wry sparkle in his eye. “And our girl, Rey, here? We knew you could do it!”

Grinning back at him, she replied, “Yes, I’m sure you di—”

“Oof!”

Catching Rey by surprise, Poe pulled her back in for another bone-cracking hug. Over his shoulder, she watched Finn shake his head with a small smile, mouthing to her, “He was so scared…” and Rey bit her lip and said nothing.

This is good. Rey knew. She was surrounded by people she loved, who loved her in return. But even as she thought it, she couldn’t deny the emptiness within that she knew would never go away. A wholeness she had never truly felt until it was ripped away from her.

She could do this, she thought. Just one day at a time. Maybe someday, it will get better. She was a scavenger who had spent years waiting for a family who would never return. She was used to loneliness. She could and she _would_ do this because if she didn’t, if she let herself fall apart, Ben’s sacrifice would have been for nothing.

She was a survivor.

She would _RISE. ___

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated.


End file.
